Kusovac businessman was awarded millions?

The municipality of Tivat filed a criminal complaint against the former Tivat mayor Dr. Siniše Kusovac (DPS), due to suspicion that he is in business with a local businessman By Gago Arsić and Kotorana Andro Saulacic caused millions of dollars in damage to the Municipality of Tivat.

It is about the joint construction of a large residential and commercial building in an attractive location on Seljanov, which was started by the former mayor of Tivat with Saulačić back in 2007. Dragan Kankaraš (DPS), which were continued later by the DPS-led administrations of Tivat. As the main investor, local businessman Arsić, close to that party, later joined the business.

According to the report submitted to the SDT on Friday by the Municipality of Tivat, which "Vijesti" had access to, Kusovac is accused of having committed the criminal offense of abuse of official position by signing or giving consent and authorization to the legal representative of the local administration. GS to sign the annexes of the contract on the joint construction of the disputed building on Seljanovo, which the Municipality of Tivat suffered great material damage during the distribution of the built space among the partners in this business.

Kusovac is also accused of causing direct financial damage of slightly more than 21.350 euros, which Arsić, according to the agreements he made with Kusovac, was supposed to pay into the city budget in 2020 in the name of a fee for the construction of the regional water supply, but that he didn't do.

In the criminal report against Kusovac signed by the current mayor of Tivat Željko Komnenović (NP), it is stated that Kusovac acted without authorization and caused as yet undetermined large material damage to the city by signing and notarizing a special power of attorney to the municipal official GS on June 3, 2020 to conclude an Agreement on the distribution of space in the newly built facility before a notary in Budva "by which the authority, the municipality of Tivat, suffered considerable material damage during the distribution of space in the building of mixed character on Seljanova, due to exceeding the official position and failure to perform official duties".

Kusovac is charged with earlier signing and certifying the special power of attorney GS - yes at a notary public Verice Knezevic On December 18, 2019, he concluded the first annex to the contract regarding the distribution of space in the new building on Seljanovo between the partners, by which Optina Tivat also suffered great material damage.

The application states that Kusovac "by exceeding his official position and failing to perform his official duties, at the same time enabled others to obtain material benefits."

"In addition to the reported criminal offense, there is also a well-founded suspicion that several other criminal offenses were committed in the process, during the division of the built-up area and the calculation of the share of the Municipality of Tivat on the mixed-use facility on Seljanova. We leave the possible qualification to the assessment of the competent Prosecutor's Office, since the amount of damage suffered and the degree of violation of the rights of the Municipality of Tivat will be determined on the basis of the expert opinion", it is written in the criminal complaint that was submitted to the SDT, headed by Milivoje Katnic.

The application recalls the genesis of the work initiated 15 years ago by the then Tivat mayor Kankaraš to start construction on a plot of land with a total area of ​​5.740 square meters, the majority owner of which is the Municipality of Tivat with a five-eighth share in the ideal part. One-eighth of the salary belongs to Andrija Saulačić from Kotor, Antonija Ilić from Risno and Erne Gall from Ljubljana, and all of them, including the Municipality of Tivat, at one time authorized Saulaćić to represent them in the joint search for an investor with whom, in partnership, they would build a large business-residential facility foreseen by the DUP in an attractive location, right next to the Jadranska magistrala in Seljanova .

By the decision of the then DPS-SDP-HGI ruling coalition in Tivat, at the suggestion of Kankaraš, the local parliament made a decision that the Municipality, although it is the majority owner of the valuable land in Seljanova, should fully rely on one private person - Saulačić, and entrust him with the job of searching for a willing investor. to invest money in construction. In the summer of 2007, the municipality concluded an agreement with Saulačić, Antonija Ilić and Gal on the joint construction of a building on that plot, according to which it agreed to invest five-eighths of its land plus the value of utilities that the investor would otherwise have to pay to the municipality, and that in return, the city of Tivat receives 30 percent of the total area in the newly built facility. The job was contracted in the summer of 2007 with Tivat businessman Rad Gago Arsić, with whom Saulačić concluded a contract on joint construction on behalf of himself and the other co-owners of the land, at the same time fighting to get a larger share in the new land for himself and the other two natural persons - his relatives. building, than the Municipality of Tivat will receive it for its majority part of the land and the release of the investor from the obligation to pay utilities, which in this case are measured at several hundred thousand euros. Namely, in the contract signed by Saulačić, the Municipality of Tivat will receive 30 percent of the area in the new building for its five-eighths of salary plus utilities, Arsić, who has the obligation to finance the complete construction of the building at his own expense, will receive 47,5 percent, while Saulačić, Antonija Ilić and Gal for their total of three-eighths of the plot, 22,5 percent of the area of ​​the new building.

However, in one of the annexes concluded in the meantime, which was signed by Kusovac, the calculation of the area of ​​the new building to which the distribution was applied was reduced to only 6.942,7 square meters. According to that division, the Municipality got a market of 613 square meters, two business premises of a total of 141,5 square meters and eight apartments with a total area of ​​546,5 square meters, and 23 parking spaces in the underground garage of the building. Saulačić received three business premises, eight apartments and ten parking spaces, while everything else went to Arsić.

In terms of percentages, the facility was divided in such a way that the Municipality of Tivat received 18,5 percent, Saulačić 8,44 percent, while Arsić eventually received 72,81 percent.

The agreement also states that "based on the initial discussions (it is not specified which ones) the municipality of Tivat belongs to the market in the newly built building."

In the criminal complaint, it is specifically apostrophized that after calculating the net area from the main project, it turns out that the new building has a total of 11.603,8 square meters, and that when the garages for a total of 118 cars are subtracted from that, there remains 7.931,6 square meters of net area that was should be distributed. It was precisely on the surfaces from the master designer that the utilities for the building were calculated in the total amount of 804.086 euros, which the Municipality of Tivat, in addition to its land, invested as a participation in this controversial business.

"The gross construction area of ​​the building from the main project is 13.332,3 square meters, and the conceptual solution approved by the chief state architect states that the maximum gross construction area is 9.168 square meters without a garage, or 12.725 square meters with a garage. It follows from the above that it is not clear how the division was carried out on the net area of ​​6.942 square meters", it is written in the criminal report submitted by the Municipality of Tivat.

It is noted that according to the opinion of the Internal Audit Service of the Municipality of Tivat, which preliminarily reviewed the papers related to this controversial deal of the former city administration with Saulačić and Arsić, it is also stated that "it is necessary to determine whether the Municipality transferred part of its co-ownership of the land to the co-contractor Arsić and if yes, does it have the consent of the Government".